Kaede's Story
by hms5375
Summary: A one-shot about what Kaede went through after the loss of her sister.


"SISTER!"

The young girl with a bandaged eye ran to her older sister, who was bleeding and weak.

There was so much to be done, and she was not ready to be alone. Keeping the tears at bay was difficult, but she knew her sister would be proud of the effort and control she had put into the last few hours. Her sister was the one that the whole village relied on for safety and peace of mind, and the little girl was overwhelmed with such big shoes to fill, but her sister had given her a task and she could not let her sister down. Not for something this important. The little girl made sure that her sister's funeral was done properly, and most importantly made sure that the jewel was set to be burned with her sister's body. The Sacred Jewel, which was the cause of her sister's death and the reason the village needed such a strong priestess to protect it, was held in her dead sister's hands as the flames roared. The little girl prayed while the flames were consuming her sister's body that the village would finally be free from the cursed luck that came the day that the jewel had arrived here. She may have been young, but she new that jewels didn't burn, but she couldn't deny her sister's last request when she had asked that the jewel be burnt with her body so she could take it with her to the next world. She prayed to the Gods that when the flames died down and cooled, and they gathered her older sibling's ashes to put in an urn and bury in a small shrine to honor her memory, that the Sacred Jewel would not be in those ashes.

The Gods must have heard her prayers.

The next few days were very difficult. Even with the jewel gone the village still needed a priestess, but the best available to them now was a lonely, heartbroken little girl that only knew what her sister had taught her. Luckily all the knowledge that her spiritually-gifted family had gathered over many generations was written on many scrolls and kept neatly in the shrine that for a time had housed the cursed jewel. Sometimes she would have to get help from one of the village elders to read some of the older scrolls, and she had to keep a chair next to the shelf that held the herbs and prepared remedies so she could reach the ones on top, but she would never get discouraged. She spent every spare moment going over the memories of her sister's teachings, or studying the scrolls and gathering herbs. She was determined to fill her sister's shoes and take care of the village, though she didn't have as much spiritual power.

The young girl's dreams were filled with her memories of the last day of her sister's life. How could he do that to her? He never showed any desire to harm either of them, even helped them on many occasions. She could not understand what would change him so, but she had seen it with her own eye: Inuyasha lashed out at whatever got in his way, including her older sister Kikyo, and took the jewel that had led him to this village. She knew that they loved each other. Even as she was dying by his hand, Kikyo could not bring herself to kill him. With her last bit of strenght, Kikyo had pierced his heart with a sacred arrow. This should have purified the demon blood that flowed in his veins and turned him to dust, she had even shouted her death wish to him, but he didn't disappear. And he didn't die. Although the girl wasn't as powerful a priestess as her sister had been, she could still see the aura surrounding Inuyasha as he hung lifelessly suspended to the trunk of the sacred tree by Kikyo's final sacred arrow. Lifeless, yes, but not dead. She may have wished out loud for him to die, but she could not bring herself to take his life like he had taken hers.

"Priestess Keade! My husband has fallen ill!"

Shouts like these came often for the learning priestess. She had to do her job well because so many people depended on her, but the only one she was afraid of disappointing was the one she found time to talk to at least twice a day. Once each morning and once each evening she made time to visit her sister's shrine. It eased her mind to know that even though Kikyo could not offer advice or comfort, she was always there to listen.

Over time there were mistakes made, but all had been learned from and never repeated. She studied the scrolls until she had all of them memorized, she made sure all the herbs and supplies that might ever be needed were always full and in the proper place. The villagers helped the young girl whenever they could, but soon they found that she helped them much more. The girl excelled at anything she put her mind to, and whatever she lacked in spiritual power she made up for in resolve. She would never give up, and gave all she had. She grew up fast, in mind before in body, and in her mind she became someone her sister would have been very proud of.

Travelers coming through the village was not a common occurrence, but when one happened by she learned what she could from them. At one time there was a traveling monk, he was kind enough to help her with some spells that she hadn't the chance to learn on her own. He showed her how to erect a barrier to keep demons away, and helped her perfect her exorcism skills. He had some strange beads on his right hand, and when she asked about them he told her that they sealed a curse. He went on to explain that beads could be very powerful, and gave her some subjugation beads and instructed her on the many uses of them. He could not stay long, he said that he was seeking the demon that cursed his hand and did not want to get too far behind it. Another traveler that had stopped briefly in the village was a lone, pregnant woman. She had an extensive knowledge of herbal remedies, and taught Kaede many things that had not been written in any of her family's scrolls. When the woman insisted that she could stay no longer, Kaede inquired about why the woman always seemed nervous as if someone was looking over her shoulder. The woman, as she hurried to pack and leave the village, said that her child was fathered by a kind demon who had helped her while she was injured, and that her own village was ashamed of her and chased her away. As Kaede was about to offer that she stay at least until the child was born and ready to travel, a call from an injured farmer caught her attention. The woman ran from the village and never looked back.

She remembered that Inuyasha was half demon. Was his mother treated the same way? She new from the time she had spent around him and from what her sister had said that he was not accepted by either demons or humans. Could a rough childhood have left him to emotionally scarred that he would one day snap and become something so feral, as she had seen him the day he killed Kikyo? He had come looking for the jewel, he wanted to use it to become full demon. Was it all just a lie to get the jewel? Did he really not care for Kikyo at all, and grew impatient when she didn't give him the jewel? She thought about it often over the years, she had liked Inuyasha but would he really have been happy if he had listened to Kikyo and became human for her?

Over the years she had thought about it less and less, and didn't go to see him in the forest that had taken his name once since the day of her sister's death. She eventually had nearly forgotten about the Sacred Jewel, remembering it almost as if it were all a very bad dream. All of that changed however when a strange girl was found trying to stroke his ears...


End file.
